Whistle-Blower on US Dirty Tricks at UN to be Tried in UK

The Guardian reports that Britain's Katherine Gunn may face two years in prison for whistleblowing on American dirty tricks at the United Nations. She made public a memo that reveals US intentions to spy on the UN delegations of the six "swing vote" nations in the run-up to a vote on the Iraq war.

Apparently her disclosure itself, which apears to have come last spring, may have dissuaded some of the swing vote nations from further considering an Iraq war resolution.

"The leaked memorandum - dated 31 January 2003 - from Frank Koza, chief of staff of the NSA's Regional Targets section, requested British intelligence help to discover the voting intentions of the key 'swing six' nations at the UN. Angola, Cameroon, Guinea, Chile, Mexico and Pakistan were under intense pressure to vote for a second resolution authorising war in Iraq. The disclosure of the 'dirty tricks' memo caused serious diplomatic difficulties for the countries involved and in particular the socialist government in Chile, which demanded an immediate explanation from Britain and America. The Chilean public is deeply sensitive to dirty tricks by the American intelligence services, which are still held responsible for the 1973 overthrow of the socialist government of Salvador Allende. In the days that followed the disclosure, the Chilean delegation in New York distanced itself from the draft second resolution, scuppering plans to go down the UN route."

Chile can't catch a break from Republican administrations, can it? First Nixon and Kissinger overthrew an elected president and instituted a reign of terror that involved the disappearance, killing and torture of thousands. And then W. was having someone spy on their ambassador to the UN in hopes of finding ways to influence his vote at the Security Council.

(Kissinger used to protest the inexplicable bad press military dictator and mass murderer Gen. Augusto Pinochet got, attributing it to mere anti-Americanism. Is he really so much worse than other Latin American rulers? he kept demanding of his staff at State. Their answer: Yes).

As for the UK, I love you guys, but it really is time to get yourselves a First Amendment. This Official Secrets Act business is very ancien regime.